MH17: fears that dozens of bodies remain across crash site

Dutch police investigators said on Wednesday it could be months before they know how many sets of human remains have been recovered from the MH17 crash site.

As the first body bags of victims from the Malaysia Airlines crash were loaded into plain wooden coffins and flown back to the Dutch city of Eindhoven, investigators said they had not yet opened the bags collected by rebels.

Confusion still surrounds how many bodies of the 298 victims of the Boeing 777 have been recovered. Separatist rebels claimed to have recovered and handed over 282 bodies and more than 80 body parts, but Dutch officials estimate the tally to be far lower.

The discrepancy comes as the crash site has been deserted, even though body parts are still reported to litter the area.

Esther Naber, a spokeswoman with Dutch officers in Ukraine, said: "We don't know, that's the bottom line. We think we have approximately, 200 bodies, but it could be more."

"We will not know until we have finished the identification process and that could take months. The bags have not been opened. In certain body bags, they can be body parts from more than one person. We are talking about human remains really, not bodies."

Ms Naber said Dutch police had no idea how the separatists arrived at their earlier figure of 282 bodies. She suggested reports that bodies had "gone missing" after collection were "nonsense".

The airliner disintegrated over an area at least six miles long and covered with fields of tall crops and woodland, further hampering the task of finding remains.

On arrival in Eindhoven the bodies will then be transferred by road to the secluded Kaporaal van Oudheusden military barracks in Hilversum, around 80 miles north, for identification.

The Dutch prime minister has warned the process of identifying the remains they have could take weeks "or months" and it will only be then that they know how many sets of remains have been found.

Relatives from the Dutch victims of the flight have already been asked to provide DNA samples to aid the task.

Dutch forensic investigators are hoping to visit the crash site again later in the week to resume the search for remains. A Dutch team said they were unable to visit the site yesterday because their safety could not be guaranteed.

As of Wednesday night though, the fields of wheat and sunflowers where the plane went down were deserted of rebel fighters and the Ukrainian emergency workers who have spent days trying to find victims. A strong smell of putrefaction hung over the site, suggesting the site still held remains.

While suitcases, personal belongings and charred fragments of aircraft still littered the vast site, almost none of the wreckage has gone undisturbed in the six days since the plane went down.

Other than a single red-and-white tape stretching the length of the roadside, no effort seemed to be in place to secure the site from further disruption.

The International Committee of the Red Cross volunteered to step in to aid the search for bodies.

Dominik Stillhart, the agency's director of operations, said: "The parties to the conflict must ensure the highest possible standards are met as regards search, recovery, handling and identification of the remains, and must keep the bereaved informed throughout the process."

The British Government has also suggested that involving the Red Cross "would be a positive step".

The aid agency said it had contacted both the Ukrainian government and the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic to offer its help in managing the bodies.

Mr Stillhart said: "The ICRC is prepared to facilitate the movements and activities of the specialists until their work is complete and the remains of all victims have been recovered and identified."

Dutch investigators are also leading the international investigation into what downed the jet.

The Dutch Safety Board, leading an international team of 24 investigators, said unhindered access to the crash site is critical.

Spokesman Tjibbe Joustra said that around 25 investigators already are in Kiev analysing information including photos, satellite images and radar information, but have not yet gained access to the crash site.

He said: "We haven't yet gotten guarantees about security for our way of working. If we go we have to be able to move freely," he said. "We hope to be able to get to the site soon."

The Malaysian government and Malaysia Airlines (MAS) will continue to dedicate all available resources towards efforts to recover all human remains of the MH17 crash victims.

Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said while the process of identification of bodies could at last begin for those who had been brought to the Netherlands on Wednesday, those whose remains had not been found should not be forgotten.

“Our goal now is to unite those who have perished with their families and loved ones as fast as possible while allowing investigators to continue their work at the crash site.

“We urge the search to continue for those who are still missing and pledge to exhaust all efforts to recover all human remains,” he said in a statement last night.

He said Malaysia would join the international community to discover the truth behind the incident, not only out of respect for those who lost their lives and their grieving families and loved ones, but also to prevent such atrocities from happening again and to bring those responsible to justice.

“In the meantime our priority is to support those who share a common grief while working closely with all governments, international organisations and responsible parties to help guarantee a full and thorough investigation is undertaken,” he said.

Thursday 24 July 2014

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/ukraine/10986569/MH17-fears-that-dozens-of-bodies-remain-across-crash-site.html